Shen Shubin's solo exhibtion of Aesop Open Confinement Photo: Courtesy of Shen Shubin

Aesop Open Confinement, an exhibition of Chinese artist Shen Shubin's oil paintings, will kick off on Saturday in Beijing to bring audiences a visual feast of realistic works with added fantasy elements. 

As an artist who has always been keen about reflecting social issues, Shen has constantly pondered the philosophical existentialist conundrum of an individual's value of being and the dynamic relationship between the "one" and the "collective."

The highlight of the exhibition is a 200x150 centimeter oil painting on canvas titled Noah's Ark. It was painted by Shen in 2020 to reflect the preciousness of life as well as its impermanence.

Artist Shen Shubin Photo: Courtesy of Shen Shubin

Shen is a representative artist of Chinese Magic Realism, the genre originally opined by art critic and photographer Franz Roh to describe the fantasy and imagined elements added to realist paintings roughly after World War I. 

Shen's works uniquely inherit the style's aesthetic characters, but also have an added "twist" that is the artist's observations on the real happenings of the country and society. 

The exhibition will be held at the Author Gallery and is scheduled to close on May 26.